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medpundit |
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Wednesday, April 09, 2003A group of Democratic lawmakers and consumer advocates will propose legislation today to try to hold down skyrocketing health insurance costs by requiring state approval before insurers can raise their rates. Consumer advocates say requiring state approval has worked well in limiting rate increases for auto insurance, the main target of Proposition 103, a ballot measure approved by California voters in 1988. Before Proposition 103, ``We were having the same sort of problems with auto insurance rates that we're now having with health insurance,'' said Jerry Flanagan, a lobbyist for the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights. ``Costs were going up,'' he said, and people were going without coverage. ``It became a crisis in the state. . . . You cannot allow the market to run away with itself.'' But William Wehrle, chief lobbyist for the California Association of Health Plans, says health insurance rate increases are due to rising health care costs driven by technology improvements, an aging population and other reasons. ``You can't get rid of those factors by passing a law any more than you can pass a law decreeing that it will always be 75 degrees and sunny out,'' he said. Yeah. Health insurance is very different than auto insurance. Aside from inflation, I wouldn’t think there would be too many factors that would cause escalations in the rates of auto accidents (except maybe rescinding the speed limit.) But health care is subject to so many other forces - technological advancement and the ever-growing population of the elderly being the chief ones. The only thing this law is likely to do is cause health insurance companies to go out of business. (Thanks to H. Feinberg for the tip.) posted by Sydney on 4/09/2003 09:42:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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